Lessons Learned at NEXT @ SXSW: Thumbprnt

The following is a guest post from Claire Wasserman, co-founder of thumbprnt. Wasserman and the team was one of the nine teams who participated in NEXT @ SXSW, our four-day abbreviated workshop of the NEXT program.

Thumbprnt is a platform where people with interesting lives tell their professional story through curated, searchable video clips to stay connected and empower others. Here, Wasserman tells us a little more about what she learned at the crazy and intense experience that was NEXT @ SXSW:

Figure out your early adopters early and figure out how to keep them coming back. Then build beta.

Fully understand your product before building the marketing campaign.

We mistook Zeitgeist for consumer discovery

We thought that if we just worked harder, thought harder, we could figure out our core features. Turns out, all we had to do was ask consumers.

Consumers’ most mentioned challenges = MVP

Put advice through a filter, always.

Figure out your early adopters early and figure out how to keep them coming back. Then build beta.

Drill into sub segments: if you thought you had to choose among segments, think more narrowly.

If you want to be a million dollar company, monetize now. If you want to be a billion dollar company, build out scaling strategy now.